Hey Washington - it's a global crisis
By Sam Gardiner
Listening to United States President Barack Obama's speech to the joint Houses
of Congress this week, I kept asking myself what happened to the global
economy. What happened to the globalization that has been such an important
part of our economic growth in the past 20 years? What happened to American
leadership? The president was inwardly focused at a time when that orientation
most likely will not solve our economic problems.
The global economic crisis has wiped out 325,000 financial sector jobs
worldwide. Greater confidence in the US banking system isn't going to solve the
bigger problem of global confidence. An investment in energy-saving
infrastructure isn't going to help
Caterpillar, a company whose sales come from mostly outside the United States.
It's a global economic crisis.
"The nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it," was one of
Obama's most powerful lines. The president went on to say that he is committed
to a retooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win. While this
is excellent rhetoric, it fails to describe what the vision is for the US place
in a global economy.
I wonder if the president saw the Christian Science Monitor article on February
17 with the headline, "US Automakers' Future Tied to the Global Economy", or if
anyone in the new administration saw the interview with a Ford executive in
Russia who said this week that it could take five years for auto sales in
Russia to recover because of the negative impact on the Russian economy of low
oil prices.
Certainly, it's valid to argue that a retooled auto industry is important, but
that Ford executive reminds us of the meaning of the global economy. Ford's
health is connected to the health of the Russian economy. (The Russian
government this week included Ford's Focus hatchback among vehicles whose
purchase it is prepared to subsidize in a market, Europe's second-biggest,
where sales may drop 19% this year, Bloomberg reported.)
In his recent testimony before the Senate, the new Director of National
Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair, dropped a shocker. He said the current
global economic crisis is the most serious short-term security threat facing
the United States. He said it was even more serious than the threat of
terrorism. The instability that could come from rising unemployment and falling
incomes could threaten us.
The president seems to have missed the warning of his top intelligence officer.
Certainly, it's valid to say the recession is about a single parent who can't
make mortgage payments, but it's a serious error to miss the bigger picture.
Obama did mention the global economy in a passing way. He said the United
States would work with the other Group of 20 states to address global economic
issues. That feels like being part of a committee. That does not feel like
leadership.
Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana gave the Republican response, which offered
an even smaller leadership vision of the role of the United States in the
interdependent global economy. Early in the speech he made reference to "the
economic storms raging around us". That connected to a personal story about
what he did during Katrina - not to a description of US leadership
responsibilities. In his words, leadership comes from cutting taxes and smaller
government.
Maybe I am too critical. Maybe I was expecting too much, but there have been
times in our history other than when Abraham Lincoln was president when
greatness was shown. I wish I had heard more of the kinds of words George
Marshall used in his 1947 Harvard speech introducing the American people to
their role in a global economy:
An essential part of any successful
action on the part of the United States is an understanding on the part of the
people of America of the character of the problem and the remedies to be
applied ... With foresight, and a willingness on the part of our people to face
up to the vast responsibility which history has clearly placed upon our
country, the difficulties I have outlined can and will be overcome.
Obama spoke much about the responsibilities of bankers, individuals, and
government in this current fiscal crisis. But the lack of focus about the vast
global responsibilities we have as a nation, especially from a president who
campaigned on a new type of global engagement was shocking. Let us hope that
the fiscal crisis doesn’t turn our country inward, ignoring the perils we face
from a global financial meltdown.
Colonel Sam Gardiner, a Foreign Policy In Focus contributor, is a retired
air force colonel who has taught military strategy and operations at the
National War College, Air War College and Naval War College.
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